White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard
Air Force One that the U.S. does not recognize the Assad regime
and had "no plans" to coordinate with them in regards to any
campaign against ISIS.

"As a matter of US policy, we have not recognized" Assad as the
leader in Syria, Earnest said, according to a transcript. "There
are no plans to change that policy and there are no plans to
coordinate with the Assad regime."

When asked if Earnest's comments also represented a denial of the
AFP report, White House National Security Council spokesperson
Caitlin Hayden told Business Insider it did.

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf also denied the report:

To be clear: Claim in this story that US is sharing intel with
the Assad regime is false: http://t.co/PL4ilvjgTo

The comments came a day after
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Syria was willing to work
with the international community against the jihadist Islamic
State group, and U.S. officials said they were poised to carry
out surveillance flights over Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said foreign drones had
been seen over the eastern province of Deir Ezzor on Monday.

On Tuesday, Syrian warplanes bombed Islamic State positions in
several areas of Deir Ezzor, an oil-rich province in the east of
Syria, most of which is held by the jihadists.

A regional source told AFP that "a Western country has given the
Syrian government lists of Islamic State targets on Syrian
territory since just before air raids on Raqa, which started in
mid-August."

The Islamic State, which emerged from Al-Qaeda's Iraq branch but
has since broken with the worldwide network, controls large parts
of Deir Ezzor and seized full control of Raqa province, further
up the Euphrates Valley, on Sunday, with the capture of the
army's last position, the Tabqa air base.

It has declared an Islamic "caliphate" in areas under its control
in Syria and neighboring Iraq, where US war planes have been
targeting its positions since August 8.

U.S. officials said Monday that Washington was ready to send spy
planes into Syria to track the group's fighters but that the
moves would not be coordinated with the government in Damascus.

Muallem warned Monday that any unilateral military action on its
soil would be considered "aggression."

Copyright (2014) AFP. All rights reserved.

This post was updated at 1:01 p.m. ET with information from
Business Insider's Brett LoGiurato.